


An Inconvenient Bond

by All_The_Feels



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst and Fluff and Smut, Awkward Flirting, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Crack, Force Bond (Star Wars), Inappropriate Use of the Force, One Shot Collection, Post-Star Wars: The Last Jedi, The Force Ships It
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-03-07
Packaged: 2019-03-18 04:55:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13674690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/All_The_Feels/pseuds/All_The_Feels
Summary: An occasionally crack-tastic, loosely-connected series of short-ish one-shots riffing on the Reylo Force Bond. This series was inspired by the Shirtless Kylo scene and plays around with the concept of the Force Bond connecting Rey and Kylo at less-than-ideal times.





	1. Shirtless

**Author's Note:**

> Sometime in the weeks immediately following Crait...

Sometime in the weeks immediately following Crait...

***

Thunk!

Rey heard the connection open and immediately whirled around before she could even see him, hoping that he hadn’t managed to catch glimpse of her. She wanted to stamp her foot; the connection was so infuriating. Couldn’t the Force at least knock first before exposing them to each other?

Behind her, she heard him clear his throat.

“Can’t you just...leave?” she asked.

“I haven’t figured out how to do that yet. If you want to expedite my exit, maybe you can figure out how to shut the door on me again, like you did on Crait?”

“You had just tried to kill me and everyone I hold dear.” This was so frustrating! Why did the bond have to reopen for the first time in several days when Rey was….like this?

“Everyone you hold dear?  Clearly I didn’t fall into that category when you left me for dead.”

“You kriffing--” Rey grunted and turned around tightly crossing her arms over her chest. “How dare you say that I didn’t care for you!”

Kylo stared at her, stunned. He swallowed, his eyes darting up and down over her body, trying not to give away his natural reaction to seeing her like this.

Rey was completely naked from the waist up, her crossed arms being the only things covering her breasts. On her bottom half she wore a pair of tightly-fitted leggings, showing the slight curve of her waist and hips.

“I--” Kylo stopped unsure of what to say.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to put a shirt on,” Rey grumbled.

“No!” Kylo blurted out. He caught himself. “I mean, don’t feel like you have to put on a shirt on my account.” Feeling a bit more confident, he smirked and added, “After all, you did catch me with my shirt off.”

“I couldn’t help that.”

“I couldn’t help this.” He took a step towards her; his face softened. “You should let me see you.”

“No!” Rey shrieked, hugging herself tighter.

“It’d only be fair. Besides, I’m sure that at some point in the future, this bond will open at an even less opportune time.”

Rey rolled her eyes. “As Supreme Leader, can’t you pretty much see a pair of tits any time that you want to now?”

“I could,”  he shrugged. “But they wouldn’t be yours.” He took another step towards her.

“So? You already told me that I’m nobody. I’m nothing.”

“But not to me.” He held out his hand. “Please?”

Rey stared at his hand. She couldn’t believe that she actually contemplated this for even a second. Shaking her head to prove to herself that she wasn’t about to do what he was asking, she murmured, “You’re insane.”

“Am I?” he asked softly. Ugh...why did his voice have to sound so...nice when he got like this? Slightly hesitant, he brushed a gloved hand down the side of her arm. 

Rey flinched. “What are you doing?”

“If you had taken my hand in the throne room, we both know that I would have seen them many times already by now.”

Glaring, Rey retorted, “I’d rather be seen naked by a wookie.”

Kylo smirked. “Come on, sweetheart. You thought about coming with me. Admit it.” He brushed her arm with his gloved hand again. “We could be so good together, and you know it,” he murmured.

“I-- I can’t do this now.” Rey turned away and more tightly hugged her own body.

“Think about it Rey, all you have to do is let go. Stop letting them hold you back--your friends, the Resistance...you’re still tied down, except that it’s your misplaced loyalty that acts as binders.”

Rey whirled back around to face him, her gaze hardening. She stepped toward him. “You know….” She removed one arm from her chest, keeping her breasts covered with her other arm, and trailed a finger down his tunic-clothed chest. “Speaking of binders, if you hadn’t slapped a set of binders on me when I showed up on your ship and instead, taken me to some place private where we could have talked, there’s a fairly decent chance that you could have seen them then.”

“Uh, really?” For once, Kylo didn’t seem to have an easy response. 

“Really.” Rey nodded. “But you blew it.” She crossed her arm back over her chest.

He scowled and looked away for a second before looking back at her.

Rey continued. “Can I ask you one question?”

“Of course,” he replied quietly.

“Are you happy? I mean, now that you’ve gotten all of the...power,” she made a face, “that you’ve ever wanted, does it make you happy?” She stepped closer to him again and tilted her chin up to better look him in the eye. “Was it worth it?”

“You know the answer to that.”

“I want to hear you say it.”

“Are you here, half-naked with me, where you should be?”

“No.”

“There’s your answer.” Kylo paused. “Can I ask you the same question, Rey? Are you happy with your Resistance friends? Were they the answer to your loneliness? Do they truly understand you?”

Now it was Rey’s turn to feel uncomfortable. Softly, she replied, “You know the answer to that.”

“So neither of us are happy with our current situations, then,” Kylo muttered.

Rey sighed, “Why did you ever think that becoming Supreme Leader would make you happy?”

“Killing Snoke in that moment wasn’t exactly something premeditated. After seeing what he was doing to you...and what he wanted me to do to you, I couldn’t make the same mistake twice.” He shook his head. “I can’t believe that you chose the Resistance over what I had to offer you.”

“I chose to save my friends’ lives! You were supposed to come with me!” she blurted out in clear agitation.

Kylo froze; a flash of shock crossing his face, as if he’d never taken Rey’s rejection at anything more than face value. A moment later, he regained his composure. “Can I ask you another question?” His voice had taken on a soft tone again.

“Sure, what is it?”

“You really would have taken your top off for me if I’d taken you straight to my quarters?” A devilish grin appeared on his face.

Rey instantly turned bright crimson. “I-- Well, why did you assume that  _ you _ would have seen me topless many times by now if I’d accepted your offer?”

“Well, I did  _ propose _ to you. That’s usually what happens after one accepts such an offer. We both know that I wasn’t exactly proposing a business merger when I asked you to join me.” He smirked. “Then again, back on Jakku, maybe things work differently, since you apparently were willing to get naked with me as soon as I got you out of that escape pod.”

“Oh!” She smacked his arm. “You nerfherder! I am not like that!”

“I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to offend.” Kylo paused. “So what was that a minute ago, with you running your finger down my chest? Was that a just a tease? A lie?”

“I am not a liar!”   


“So you’re just afraid, then.”

“I’m not afraid of anything.” Rey looked him directly in the eye, her composure returning rapidly. “You need to re-earn the right to see me naked again.”

He inhaled sharply and seemed to shudder for a brief second. “And…” he took a steadying breath. “What do I need to do to re-earn that right?”

“That’s an excellent question,” Rey responded. “Work on finding an answer to that question.”

“That’s not an answer, Rey,” he huffed out in frustration.

“It is for now,” she grinned. “Well look now, you’re fading away,” she pointed out, as it was clear that their connection was also starting to fade.

“Convenient,” he replied flatly.

“Don’t worry, Ben! You’re a smart guy--I’m sure you’ll figure it out. I believe in you.”

The fading Ben rolled his eyes in response.

“One last thing,” she added. “Here’s a quick incentive to work with me on this.” Rey quickly removed her arms from her chest, briefly flashing her breasts at Kylo before he completely disappeared, and she found herself alone in her quarters again.

Rey exhaled a breath that she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. Feeling slightly exhilarated, she walked over to the mirror in her ‘fresher. Her cheeks, neck, and whole chest appeared noticeably flushed. She turned away from the mirror with a secret smile on her face that she’d never experienced before.


	2. Don't Hate Me Because I'm Beautiful

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Force Bond connects Rey and Kylo while Kylo is indulging in his hair care routine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another one-shot in this series. Takes place relatively soon after the previous one.

_ Thunk! _

Rey had been sitting on the bed in her quarters, cup of caf in hand, when she heard the bond open again. For once, she was actually relieved by the intrusion, as verbally sniping with Kylo would provide a welcome break from attempting to slog through another chapter of the old Jedi text that she’d been attempting to read. Resting with her back against the wall, she looked up from her book to see Kylo having appeared sitting at the other end of her bed. At least this time, thankfully, Rey was fully dressed.

Kylo, on the other hand, was not fully dressed. He was shirtless again (of course, Rey thought) and dressed in a pair of black lounge pants. He was also wearing some sort of plastic...hat?...on his head.

“Oh, hello,” He said quietly, staring at the floor and not even bothering to make eye contact.

Rey frowned. “Are you injured? What happened to your head?” Cautiously, she reached towards the plastic hat.

Kylo flinched. “I’m fine.”

“What happened?  Let me take a look. I’ve been reading up on Force healing…” She reached out towards him again.

Kylo batted her hand away. “I’m fine. Really.”

“But...isn’t that a bacta hat?”

“No.”

“It looks like a bacta hat.”

“It’s not a bacta hat.” Kylo’s irritation was becoming apparent.

“If it’s not a bacta hat, what is it?”

Kylo patted the hat, adjusting its fit on his head slightly. “It doesn’t matter.”

“It does matter.”

“No, it doesn’t.”

“Kylo, if you’re hurt, it does matter to me.”

“Rey,” he shifted and turned towards her, making eye contact with her for the first time since the bond had opened this time. “I promise you, I am not injured.”

“Well, what is it then?  And why are you wearing it?”

Kylo shook his head and sighed. “I’m starting to guess that you already know, otherwise you wouldn’t be badgering me over it.”

“I’m not badgering you.”

Kylo’s response was to simply look at her with raised eyebrows.

“Okay, maybe a little. But it’s just because I’m curious.” Rey laughed. “I mean, what could you be wearing on your head that isn’t related to any injury and that’s apparently so embarrassing that  _ you _ are refusing to tell  _ me _ ? I mean, have you forgotten the bit about us being able to easily see each other’s deepest thoughts and all that?”

Looking straight ahead, Kylo replied. “If I tell you, you can’t laugh.”

“I won’t laugh.”

“You have to promise.”

“I promise.”

Kylo let out an exaggerated sigh. “It’s a hair mask.”

“Oh.” Rey wrinkled her brow.

Kylo sighed again. “You don’t know what that is, do you?”

“No.”

Kylo looked away, his face turning slightly red. “It’s a deep conditioning treatment. It helps to keep my hair healthy.”

“Oh.” Rey was unable to hide her confusion. “Does, um, your hair get sick sometimes or something? I don’t think my hair has ever gotten sick…”

“No,” he snapped. “Hair doesn’t get sick. I do one of these masks every few weeks to keep my hair soft and shiny.”

“Oh.” Rey stared at the floor, unsure of what to say. She was having trouble reconciling the Kylo Ren that she knew with a man who had...beauty treatments (because that’s what this was, wasn’t it?) done to his hair. Maybe this was another leftover remnant of Ben Solo. Ben Solo...Rey’s eyes brightened. She thought that maybe she understood where this was coming from now.

“So, um,” she started cautiously. “Is this hair treatment thing something that you learned from your mother?”

Kylo flinched and slowly nodded.  “She used to do this about once a week. On the rare occasion that I’d see her with her hair down, she had incredibly beautiful hair. When I got older and started growing my hair out, I started following her routine, as well.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen your mother with her hair down,” Rey said softly.

“You wouldn’t have. I don’t think anyone outside of our immediate family ever saw her with her hair down. Those braided hairstyles that she wears are an Alderaanian tradition that she always wanted to uphold.”

Rey turned her head slightly to look at him again. She wasn’t sure what to say. 

“You’re not laughing at me?” Kylo asked, looking at the floor.

“Why would I laugh?  I mean, it’s a little odd that you’re following some haircare routine of your mother’s when normally you’re all ‘Let the past die’ and everything,” she replied.

“This has nothing to do with my past.”

“But you just said that your mother--”

“I learned how to do it from my mother, but that’s not why I do it.”

“Then why do you do it?” Rey shifted her position on the bed, tucking her legs underneath her.

“Because I want nice-looking hair?”

“But why does that even matter?  You kept it hidden under a mask for years. And now that you’re,” she paused for a second, “Supreme Leader...I can’t imagine that anyone cares what your hair looks like.”

“ _ I _ care what my hair looks like.”

“Why?”

Kylo sighed again and took a minute to answer before speaking again. “When I was...under Snoke, his primary form of motivation was to belittle me.  I’d long known that I was worthless to him as a person; I was simply a tool or a weapon to be used to help him achieve his goals.”

“I don’t understand why you stayed with him so long.”

Ignoring the comment, Kylo continued. “My hair was something that I had control of. After being stripped of everything else, including my name...my hair was something that was mine. Everything else about me could be ugly or distorted or grotesque, but at least I knew that my hair always felt and looked nice. No one else would notice, but at least I would know.”

Rey met his gaze and quickly looked away. “You know, when you first took off your mask, I did notice how nice your hair looked.” Hesitantly, she began to reach forward and added, “Can I touch it?”

“Well, you can, but you might be a bit disappointed, as it’s a bit of a goopy mess right now. Or you can stick around for about another 15 minutes, wait for me to rinse out the mask, and blow-dry my hair.” Kylo smirked. “I promise, it’ll be worth the wait.”

Rey smirked back. “I’ll wait one condition.”

“And what’s that?”

“You let me try one of those mask things while I wait. Do you have one of those extra cap things?”

Kylo raised an eyebrow. “Indeed, I do.” To prove it, he pulled the extra cap out of the box that contained the conditioning mask. “Go get your hair thoroughly wet, and if the connection is still open, I’ll help you put the mask in. Got it?”

“Got it.” Rey hopped off the bed and disappeared into her ‘fresher. Feeling strangely thrilled, she turned the sink faucet on as high as it would go and stuck her head under the running water. She’d occasionally had other thoughts of Kylo Ren that left her embarrassed, but this? While she certainly wouldn’t tell anyone else in the Resistance about this, sharing a haircare routine with him seemed innocent enough. What harm could come from this? 

She ran her fingers through her hair until she was sure that it was saturated, turned off the water, wrung her hair out, and scampered back to her bedroom. To her relief (why was she so relieved?), Kylo was still sitting on her bed with the silly-looking plastic cap on his head. 

“Ready?” he asked, looking as if he was trying to hide a grin.

“Ready.” She sat down on the bed next to him. 

“Turn around; sit with your back to me,” he instructed.

“Okay.” Rey swung her feet up onto the bed and scooted back towards Kylo. Without thinking, she began to lean her head back towards his chest before she realized what she was doing and jerked her head forward.

“What you were doing was fine,” Kylo reassured her. 

She felt him begin to run his fingers through her hair and shivered briefly at the feel of his touch on her scalp. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him pick a tube of something off of her (his?) bed, unscrew the cap, and with squishing noise, squeeze a palmful of some sort of thick cream into his hand. He rubbed his palms together, distributing the cream, and then began to apply the cream to her tresses.

His fingers worked his way through her hair for several minutes. Occasionally, he’d change things up and briefly massage her scalp.

“Mmmm…” A moan drifted Rey’s lips. Embarrassed, Rey’s hand flew to her mouth, as if she could somehow retroactively stop the sound from escaping.

Kylo chuckled. Was this the first time she’d heard him laugh?

“It’s okay to enjoy this, you know,” he commented, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Rey felt him withdraw his touch. A few seconds later, with a “snap”, the spare plastic cap thing had been placed on her head.

“That’s it?” Rey asked.

“That’s it. Now you just need to sit and wait with the cap on your head for the next 30 minutes while the mask works through the cuticle of your hair, and then you’ll rinse it out.”

“Okay, then.”  Rey swiveled around so that she could face Kylo. “I guess we’ve got some time to kill.”

“I guess so. What do you propose we do with that time?” He began to lean in towards her.

Rey’s mind raced. Was this really happening? What should she do? She couldn’t tear her eyes away from Kylo’s lips. Should she--

 

_ Bang! Bang! Bang!    
_

 

Someone was knocking on Rey’s door. Jolted out of the mood, Rey looked up. Kylo was gone.

In an effort to distract herself from what possibly had  _ almost _ just happened a moment ago, Rey flew off the bed and opened the door.

“Rey? Are you okay?” General Organa stood on the other side of the doorway.

“I’m fine,” Rey smiled softly.

“Are you sure?” the general leaned forward, trying to poke her head through the doorway. “I had this strange sense that something was...off in here.”

Understanding the general’s intentions, Rey stepped back from the doorway, allowing the older woman to enter.  “Everything is fine in here.” She gestured for General Organa to look around the room, if she wished.

“I believe you,” General Organa smiled, taking a step towards exiting the room. She paused. “Rey? What is that thing on your head.”

“Oh,” Rey’s hand flew to her head, feeling the plastic cap that still sat there. “Um, I was just doing a deep conditioning mask on my hair.”

“Really?” General Organa walked back towards the doorway, raising an eyebrow. She chuckled quietly. “I knew...someone else who used to do that exact same thing.”

“It’s pretty common then, isn’t it?” Rey asked.

“Not really.” General Organa grinned directly at Rey, turned around, and exited the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading! If you have an idea for one of these one-shots, let me know in the Comments.


	3. Never Have I...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Drunk Rey.

Helped by a quite tipsy Rose, Rey stumbled back to her quarters and flopped down on her bed.

“Are you sure that you’re going to be alright?” Rose asked.   


“I’m sure…”  Rey frowned at herself. The words coming out of her mouth didn’t sound like they normally would.

Rey closed her eyes for a few seconds and could hear Rose rummaging around in her room. At some point, she heard water running, followed shortly by a hand shaking her shoulder. 

“Rey? Rey? Do you need me to stay with you?”

“I’m fine, really,” Rey rubbed her temples and opened her eyes.

Rose sat down on the bed next to her. “I got you a glass of water.” She gestured to the desk that sat next to Rey’s bed. “Promise me that you’ll drink as much water as you can before you fall asleep, okay?”

“I think that if I drink anything else, I’m going to vomit again.”

“Well,” Rose said cheerfully, “If you do need to vomit again, here’s this,” she held up a wastebasket that had formerly been in the corner of the room and set it down next to the bed. “That’s, of course, only for if you don’t think you can make it to the ‘fresher in time.”

Rey simply groaned in response.

“Look at it this way, you should do a lot better next time,” Rose offered.

“I don’t know that I want there to be a next time,” Rey grumbled.

“You were having fun for a while, weren’t you?”

Rey smiled then grimaced. “I was having fun...until I wasn’t.”

Rose got up and walked to the door. “You’re okay now though, right?”

“I think so.”

“Okay, I’m going to leave you for the night. Don’t hesitate to comm me if you need anything.”

“Thanks.”  Rey stared up at the ceiling. She heard Rose open and shut the door to her room. Wanting the ceiling to stop spinning, she closed her eyes. 

Closing her eyes didn’t help; now, somehow the blackness behind her eyelids was spinning. Rey didn’t know that was possible. Maybe some sort of Force healing could help her feel better? She cursed to herself that she hadn’t been able to slog her way through more of the Jedi texts so far.

_ Thunk! _

Oh no…  Not now…  Please not now…

She shut her eyes as tightly as possible. Maybe he’d just think that she was asleep and go away. 

And then she felt him sit down on the bed. He really couldn’t take a hint, could he?

“Just go away,” Rey groaned. She kept her eyes shut.

“I can’t.  You know that.” 

She groaned again in response.

“Rey, what’s wrong?” Kylo’s voice was warm and inviting...because, of course, it was.

“I never.”

“You never what?”

Rey slowly opened her eyes. Kylo sat on the bed next to her, his brown eyes full of concern as he gazed down at her. She swallowed. “I Never.  We played ‘Never Have I Ever.’”

Kylo looked confused for a moment and then burst out laughing. “The drinking game? Your Resistance friends had  _ you _ playing a drinking game?” He laughed so hard that he snorted.

“They told me that it would be fun,” Rey mumbled.

“How much have you had to drink?”

“Don’t know. A lot. Or it feels like a lot.”

Kylo smiled, a hint of compassion crossing his face. “You’ve never been drunk before, have you?”

Tilting her thumb and pinkie finger to her mouth to mimic taking a drink, Rey robotically intoned, “I’ve never been drunk before.”

Tenderly, Kylo leaned over brushed Rey’s hair off of her forehead.  “If I could figure out how to just close this connection, I’d let you go right now. You probably just want to sleep this off at this point.”

Rey caught his hand. “No, stay. Rose told me that I should try to stay awake longer, anyway.” She gestured somewhat blindly to her night table. “And I’m supposed to drink water.”

Kylo tried to slide his arm under Rey’s shoulders. “Sit up. I don’t know Rose, but she’s right--you should drink water. You’ll feel less terrible tomorrow morning.”

Rey allowed him to help her sit up. He leaned across her body and handed her the glass of water from the night table. “Here’s your water.”

Tentatively, Rey took a sip. She grimaced; she really didn’t want to be ingesting anything at this point.

“You don’t need to guzzle it,” Kylo offered. “A good rule of thumb is to try to equal the amount of alcohol you drank with water. Your body is dehydrated; that’s why you feel so awful right now.”

Rey took another sip. “Let me guess, you have experience with this?”

Kylo smiled and shook his head. “I have, but it’s been a while.  Granted, it’s also been a while since I’ve done much of anything that would get me out of drinking during a round of ‘Never Have I Ever’.”

“Oh?” Rey’s curiosity was piqued. “I want to hear more about this. You can entertain me while you’re here.”

“You didn’t invite me to play your game with you.”

“You weren’t here. If you’d come back with me…”

“And if you’d stayed with me, I can guarantee that you’d be entertained in ways other than playing drinking games with a bunch of overgrown adolescents.”

Rey glared at Kylo; Kylo glared back.

Swallowing, Kylo decided to change the subject. “What sort of questions did you have to drink for?”

Rey’s gaze narrowed. “I’m supposed to just tell you what I have and haven’t done without you telling me anything in return?”

“Oh, I’ll tell you anything you ask.” He smirked, then frowned and continued. “From what I recall, the kind of life that you lived before shouldn’t have exactly lent itself to you getting hammered during a game of Never Have I Ever.”

“Poe,” Rey groaned. “He thought it was hilarious that there were so many things I hadn’t done, so he started targeting me with things he knew I’d done.”

“Poe is an asshole,” Kylo snapped, clenching his fist. “I’ve met him; I know.” He placed an arm around her shoulders.  

Instinctively, Rey nuzzled into his arms. “Kaydel thought it was funny, so she started doing the same thing when it was her turn.”

“I don’t know Kaydel, but he sounds like an asshole, too.”

“Kaydel is a ‘she’. She always goes along with Poe on things.”

Kylo laughed. “I’m sure him trying to get into your pants must have gone over really well with her.”

Rey turned her head to look at him, confused. “He didn’t do anything with my pants.”

“It’s an expression,” he sighed. “When an asshole like that deliberately gets a woman drunk, it’s usually because he’s trying to seduce her.” After a brief pause, he added, “Sexually.”

Rey wrinkled her nose. “I don’t know why he’d do that. Kaydel is really into him.”

“Rey, you really don’t understand the effect that you have on people, do you?” Kylo pulled her closer into his chest.

“What effect?” Rey snorted. 

Kylo pulled back and looked into her eyes for a moment. Rey’s skin suddenly felt very hot, and she looked away.  “Can I have that glass of water again?”

Kylo quickly looked away as well and reached over to hand her the glass.

Without thinking, Rey chugged down the rest of the water and set the glass back down. “So…” she said.

“So…”

“I wonder how long this, uh, connection is going to last this time.”

“There doesn’t seem to be any way to know, unless we get interrupted in some way, since that seems to be what typically cuts it off.” Regaining his composure, a slight grin appeared on his face. “You were going to tell me some of the questions that they used to make you drink?”

“Only if you tell me if you would have had to drink for the same question.”

“That’s fair.” Kylo leaned over to something on his side of the bond, and suddenly he held a small glass with brown liquid in it. “I’ll do one better--I’ll drink for those, myself.” 

Rey stared at him in disbelief. “You’re going to stay here and get drunk with me?”

“Maybe?”

Rey smiled and shook her head. “Okay. First one.  Granted this one got everyone… Never have I ever killed someone.”

Kylo rolled his eyes. “Wow, they started off light and easy.” He took a swig from his glass. “My turn.” He stared at Rey and thought for a second. “I’ll go easy on you. Never have I ever been so drunk that I’ve thrown up.”

Rey glared at him, grabbed his glass, and took a drink.

“What?” Kylo was obviously confused. “I thought you’d never been drunk before. I was trying to be nice.”

“Earlier tonight.”

“Oh Rey, I’m sorry.” He ran his hand over the back of her head. “You really should get yourself some more water then. And you should also probably lay off of what I’m drinking.”

“I’m fine. I’m feeling better,” she insisted. Although to contradict herself, she quickly hopped up, ran to the fresher, refilled her water glass, and sat back down next to Kylo. “See?  I’m fine.” She took a drink of water and set her glass down. “Here’s another one that got me. Never have I ever stolen anything.” To emphasize her point, she grabbed Kylo’s glass, took a swig and handed it back to him.

Kylo eyed her and took a drink himself from the glass.

Rey frowned. “What the kriff did you ever steal?”

“A ship.” He took another sip for emphasis.

“Why in the world would you need to steal a ship?  _ When _ did you steal a ship?”

“I was 16. I was home and was supposed to visit my parents...except that they weren’t around. I got bored, so I took one of my father’s friend’s ships out just to test it out and see how it flew. He reported it stolen; I got arrested...and that was the last time that I went home to visit...before…” his voice trailed off.

Rey perked up, trying to keep the mood upbeat. “The ship I stole was the Falcon.”

“I know.” He gave her a mock side-eye. “Okay. Next one…” He paused, thinking for a moment. “This one is a little awkward to admit, but I suspect that you’re in the same boat.” Kylo inhaled, then looked away as he spoke. “Never have I ever had sex with another person.”

Rey opened her mouth, about to express her surprise, then looked at her lap. 

“No drink?” Kylo asked.

“No drink.” Rey shook her head. She looked up at him. “You’re the Supreme Leader of the entire galaxy. You’re--  You’re…” Rey struggled trying to think of the right words before blurting out, “And, I mean, look at you! You must have plenty of opportunities.”

“Not a lot of opportunities when I was a padawan at the temple. People hooked up, but they had to hide it from Luke, as he’d been trying to preach the old Jedi ways of avoiding attachment.” Kylo made no effort to hide the bitterness in his voice. “And then with Snoke…  Well, Snoke wasn’t much different in that respect; it was one of several things that he and Luke had in common.”

“And since then? Now that there’s no Snoke…?”

Kylo rolled his eyes. “Do you really need to ask that? Or are you just that insecure?” He sighed. “There’s no one else, Rey.” Looking over at her, he asked, “What about you?”

Snorting, Rey replied, “Well, there weren’t exactly a lot of tempting opportunities on Jakku. And since then...well, we know how that’s gone…”

“We’ve really messed this up, haven’t we?” Kylo sighed.

“We?” Rey raised her eyebrows.

“Okay, mostly me….but if you hadn’t gone for the lightsaber and had just  _ talked _ to me, instead…”

Rey shook her head. “I didn’t think there was time. I had to try to save them.” 

“I know.”

Rey looked back to him. “My turn. Never have I ever kissed someone.” She quickly added, “Romantically.”

“Wow. Really?” He took a drink from his glass, emptying it.

“Really. I mean...it’s the same as the other thing…  Not really any tempting opportunities...at least while I was on Jakku.” She clasped her hands and stared at them.

Kylo reached over and brushed her cheek. The skin-on-skin contact, as light as it was, sent a spark of electricity through her. “Did you know that I was about to kiss you right after we finished off the guards?”

Rey blushed. “I think I knew on some level.” She started off into space for a moment. “And it wasn’t that I didn’t want to, but I-- I--,” She shook her head slowly. “Your intensity freaked me out. I guess I basically changed the subject.” Feeling like her face was on fire, she caught his gaze again; it was only marginally less intense right now than it had been in the throne room.

“You know…” he started. “I was going to wait for you to find this out on your own, but we opened an orphanage on Jakku. No child there should ever again have to go through what you went through.”

“What?” she gasped. “But Unkar won’t like that.”

“Unkar didn’t have a say in the matter.”

“Why?”

“Rey, you know the answer to that question. Do you really need for me to state it?”

“No,” she shook her head.

He brushed her cheek again. “Does it bother you?”

“No. Not really.”

Cautiously, his fingers slid to her chin, which he began to tilt up. 

Rey inhaled sharply. She knew what was happening again, and she was not going to freak out this time. She was NOT going to freak out this time. She--

She reached forward and threaded her fingers through the hair on the sides of his head, pulling his face to hers. Aggressively, she pressed her slightly parted lips to his in a rather ungraceful open-mouthed kiss. 

Clearly caught off-guard, Kylo hesitated a moment before returning the kiss, his hands traveling to hold her by her waist. Teeth and soon tongues met in the way that can happen with an inexperienced kiss. Rey felt as if she was actually melting into Kylo. How could this not actually be real? For the first time, she knew the feeling of actually, truly belonging.

Rey wasn’t sure how long the kiss lasted--it may have been minutes, but it was over much too quickly for her tastes. Kylo was the one to break the kiss, pulling back, and staring at her in both shock and wonder--a similar look to the one that he had on his face in the snowy forest when she’d caught his lightsaber. She quickly smiled to both reassure him and to encourage him to continue with...whatever this was.

Kylo cupped her cheek with his hand and began to lean in towards her again. Rey closed her eyes in anticipation and waited. She felt his hand disappear from her cheek. She waited a few more seconds, expecting to feel his hand somewhere again and to feel his lips on hers. 

Confused, she opened her eyes to find herself in her once-again empty room, alone again. Suddenly cold, she laid down and pulled her blanket over her body, acutely aware of how empty she now felt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took a fluffier/more serious turn than I anticipated when I originally came up with the idea for this "chapter" in my head...but sometimes you just have to go where the characters and their dialogue takes you...
> 
> Thank you to everyone who has been commenting and leaving kudos on this fic! And feel free to leave me a prompt for a one-shot in this series in the comments!

**Author's Note:**

> My writing muse has finally returned! And this time to help support/encourage me, I have several wonderful Beta readers--Palmetto_Blue, SheLitAFire, and SSC from the Reylo forum! 
> 
> To my readers: I have ideas for about a half dozen of these little one-shots (including two more that are at least partially drafted), but if you have an idea for a prompt, please post it in the comments section. I'd love additional inspiration!
> 
> (And to readers of my unfinished fics, I do plan to get back to those, if you're still with me. This one-shot series is a bit of a palate cleanser to get me writing again without pressure.)


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